Hopper-valve, &amp;c.



c. w. HUNT. HOPPER VALVE, 8w.

APPLIOATIOI FILED RAB. 17, 1908.

Patented Apr. 5, 1910.

UNITED STATESTATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. HUNT, OF NEW YORK. N. Y.

IIOI'PER-VALV E, 806.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES W. llnn'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at West New Brighton, in the borough of Richmond of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hopper-Valves, &c., of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to devices for controlling the flow of coal, ore, grain, etc., from bins or other containers, to cars, trucks, etc., in which the flow of the material through the opening in the bottom of the valve body is controlled by swinging jaws which move from opposite sides toward a median line to close the opening; and the object thereof is to overcome difficulties previously existing in valves of the type specified by so constructing and arranging the jaws that their inner meeting edges shall be offset vertically when the aws are closed and, preferably, so that when the jaws are in their closed position the edge of one shall pass or overrun the edge of the other beond the an is of repose of the material to e controlled, thereby preventing catching of a hard iece of the material between the edges of tlie jaws and also practically preventing the escape of material between the edges of the 'aws even if they are not completely close the combined length of the valve members when closed being greater than the len th of the discharge opening, and the jaws ein located below and spaced apart from such ischarge opening.

The invention will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which it is illustrated, and in which Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a valve which embodies in its construction the present improvement, the side walls of the container being shown in section, and Fig. 2 is a view thereof in vertical section.

In the drawing the container for the material, or so much of such container as is necessa to enable the a plication of the present invention {to be an erstood, is represented by the wa ls a, a, between which is the openin b for the discharge of the material. Be ow the mouth or outlet b is secured the valve body 0 which has in its bottom an openin (2 controlled by jaws e which swing eac about an axis at one side Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 17,

Yl'atented A p 1. 5, 1910.

1908. Serial No, 421,656.

of the plane of the jaw and preferably coinciding substantially with the axis of curvature of the jaw so that itsedgc may be forced through the coal or other material. The latter are of usual cmistruetion, except as hereinafter indicated and are arranged to move from opposite sides toward a median line to close the opening (I. The jaws may be operated by any suitable means and are represented in the drawing as connected respectively, by links it and It", to arms g and 9 of a three-armed lever, the third arm of which is connected by a link It with the hand operated lever 2'.

The jaws e comprise, as usual, side walls or members 6 and a bottom c. The adjacent edges of the two jaws are oll'sct vertically and preferably one of the jaws, as the left hand jaw in the drawing, is made slightly narrower than the other jaw, so that its forward portion may enter between the side walls of the other jaw, and its bottom 0 is curved upwardly somewhat or the bottom of the other jaw is cut away Somw what, as the case may be, so that the forward edge of one of the jaws shall underrun the forward edge of the other jaw, as clearly shown at c in Fig. 2. It is well on derstood that coal and other dry materials have each its characteristic angle of repose and that any dry material will cease to flow, when undisturbed, as soon as the surface of the mass attains the characteristic angle. The underrunning of the edge of one jaw beyond the other, in the described construction, is therefore carried to such an extent that the angle included between a line drawn through the extreme edges of the two jaws and a vertical line is greater than the angle included between a vertical line and the surface of the material when in a state of repose. SAs the angle of repose of different materia s differs somewhat but is known for each material, the proper angle of the edges of thetwo jaws for any particular material is readily determined.) Consequently, the material being handled will not have a tendency to escape between the lips of the jaws, even if they are not brought closely together and, moreover, should a lump or piece of material lodge upon the lip of one jaw it will be pushed back by the lip of the other jaw as the two 'aws approach the closed position, even if t e adjacent edges of the two jaws are offset vertically without underrunning, the one under the other.

The extension of the body of the shell beyond the margin of the mouth to afford space into which the material ma be crowded and the means for operating t is jaws are not claimed herein, having been made the subject of separate applications.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device of the class described, a valve bod having an inlet at its upper end and a disc iar e openin at its lower end and through whic l materia may flow; two valve members located at the lower end of said valve body and pivoted so as to swing about parallel axes separated from one another in a horizontal direction and located above the lower end of said valve body, said valve members being adapted to move across the outlet openin transverse to the direction of flow of material through said valve body and to meet at the middle portion of said discharge opening. and the extremity of one of said valve members being enlarged with reference to the extremity of the other, so that the meeting edges 0 said valve members may overlap one another when the valve members are in position to close the discharge opening aforesaid; and means for swinging said valve members in unison about their axes to cause them to simultaneously approach and recede from one another, the combined length of said valve members when closed being greater than the length of said discharge opening and said valve members being spaced apart from said discharge opening, so that the stoppage of the flow of material therethrough is not dependent upon a close fit between the said valve members and said dischar e o ening.

2. In a device of the class escrlbed, a valve body having an inlet at its upper end and a dischar 0 opening at its lower end and through w ich material may flow; two valve members located at the lower end of said valve body and pivoted thereto at )Olllll-S adjacent the ufpper end of the valve ody and separated rom one another in a horizontal direction, so that said valve membersmay swing about separate parallel axes passing through the upper portion of said valve body, said valve members being adapted to move across the outlet opening transverse to the direction of flow of material through said valve bod and to meet at the middle portion of sai discharge opening, and the extremity of one of said valve members being enlarged with reference to the extremity of the other, so that the meeting edges of said valve members may overlap one another when the valve members are in position to close the discharge openin aforesaid; and means for swinging said valve members in unison about their axes to cause them to simultaneously approach and recede from one another, the combined length of said valve members when closed being greater than the length of said discharge opening and the outer or non-meeting edges of said valve members bein spaced apart from the adjacent wall of said discharge 0 ening, so that the sto page of the flow 0 material therethroug is not dependent upon a close fit between the outer edges of said valve members and the adjacent wall of said discharge opening.

This specification signed and witnessed this 10th day of March A. D., 1908.

CHARLES W. HUNT. Signed in the resence of Class. E. IMONBON,

B. KELLY. 

